Ricciardo targeting 'dominant' Singapore weekend after leading Friday

Vettel secured his fourth career pole at the Marina Bay Circuit, the German pushing the boundaries to set a stunning lap record of one minute 39.491 seconds on his final run.

"At the end of the day, to be second here, on this track, I think it is very promising", said 19-year-old Verstappen, who could have been the youngest driver in the history of the sport to start on pole.

Singapore Grand Prix polesitter Sebastian Vettel was left surprised by his qualifying pace, saying his vehicle "came alive" in the final session.

At three points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, this gives Vettel his best chances of snatching the title lead away from Hamilton, who surged ahead by the slimmest of margins after a strong finish at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month.

Ricciardo suggested Red Bull could dominate the Singapore GP after his strong showing on Friday and still expects victory in Sunday's race, despite only qualifying third. "We've been quickest in every single session this weekend but then the one that really counts, unfortunately you could just see that, once you get to that crucial part of qualifying, the drivers have extracted everything there was out of the auto and we just don't have that last little bit".

Red Bull arrived in Singapore hopeful of making the strength of its RB13 auto show around the street circuit, expecting to draw closer to usual leaders Ferrari and Mercedes at the front of the pack.

Bottas says of the deal: "I've been very impressed by the mentality, commitment and the team spirit this team holds. We had a hard night yesterday but a better night today and I'm sure the auto will be like today tomorrow, so it will be better but for sure it will be a close race".

"Here, what I've seen today, Red Bull is outstanding".

Max Verstappen has said he will not be changing his attacking style at all as Red Bull prepare to have a say in the latest chapter of the Mercedes and Ferrari title battle. "So I needed to control the slides and the wheel slips more than I would wanted to and the pace is just slow", Bottas explained.

"I got everything I could out of the auto, everything and more", he added.